Your channel's been a lovely recommendation from the YT algorithm, the way you talk about books with such depth + honesty (and even kindness where they deserve it, even if you didn't like them!) is something I was sorely missing from the booktube community in recent months. Great work, looking forward to your best of 2024 list!
🥀 I somewhat agree with you about Rose/House but the vibes worked for me so I enjoyed my time with it. Could not tell you what it was doing though. Only vibes.
the sequel to Radiance continues their romance and it has higher stakes. some people feel like it is too stressful after how they fell in love with the couple in Radiance but I enjoyed it! I also DNF'd the Familiar - I just didn't care after a while.
You know, I was totally here for the craziness in Long Live Evil but I can totally see why you bounced off it lol. And ugh I wish I had DNFed The Terraformers, that was honestly painful for me by the end ouch. Hope I can follow in your footsteps and embrace the DNF more next year!! Some of my biggest disappointments were A Dark and Drowning Tide by Alison Saft, The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, Lucy Undying by Kiersten White and The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake. Not bad books, just not what I was hoping for...
🌹 My most disappointing reads of the year are probably: 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami Those Above - Daniel Polansky Trials of Empire - Richard Swan Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins My Brother's Keeper - Tim Powers Leviathan Wakes - James S A. Corey
I think the biggest disappointment for me was ‘Empire of Silence’. BookTube raves about the series, but I just couldn’t stand Handrian, and the writing was just meh. And then we got to the graphic torture scene, and I’m out. I tried, I really tried, but I just don’t want to spend any time on that sort of thing when there is so much of it happening IRL that using it as a form of escapism just sits very wrong. Oh, and Orbital was a huge snore. I agree, the first 50 pages were good, and then I got bored.
I am with you on the opinion that angsty romance is the best romance, but I also think Radiance is a really competent romance. It also has some good fantasy as it goes on!
Oh!! Radiance and the second book, Eidolon, have loads of angst. Eidolon in particular is heartbreaking. Like I almost never cry with a book, but it definitely got me in the feels. I love anything in the Paladin world of T Kingfisher. I was going to say that none of her books have been disappointments for me, but actually Bryony and Roses I thought was maybe not more than 3.5 stars. Also not a fan of Illuminations. Orbital I did not dislike, but I don't get why it's classified as a novel. It's more like a 200-page prose poem. No plot and not really any character development. But the prose is pretty.
so proud of you for all the DNFing friend!! you know i love a good DNF hahaha (even if one of your DNFs is a book i really enjoyed so i'm just sad you didn't have a good time with it) 🌹
My worst reads of the year are, in order (from worst to least worst): 1. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jennie Han (this has some seriously problematic content, imo, and since it's for teens it made me doubly angry) 2. The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (very fun premise, but I disliked everything about the execution) 3. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (as a character driven reader, this is a huge nope) 4. How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen (having introduction by Marissa Meyer tricked me into reading this). Three out of these four were for the r/fantasy bingo board 😅 This is what happens when I go out of my comfort zone 😂
Rose/House most disappointing for sure. I _loved_ Teixcalaan, but this was just... what? The Vela was also a pretty big disappointment, I love a lot of what they did, but I really didn't enjoy the reading experience itself, so I'm quite torn on it. I'd rather leave a 🌹 for Rook & Rose bcs I'm reading The Mask rn and absolutely loving it. (Also Bryony and Roses, read that too this year.)
Worst books of the year for me were Private Rites by Julia Armfield and Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint. Most disappointing was Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. 🌹
No DNFs this year, but my most disappointing read was Bad Brains. I really thought it would be an AWESOME horror book, and what I found just really didn't work for me, for some reason. I didn't hate it, and I still found some things enjoyable, but it was nowhere near what I expected it to be
Most disappointing read this year was probably Bloom by Delilah S Dawson. I knew the twist going in and it was the reason I picked it up. I just found the execution lacking.
It was hard for me to get through Orbital. It read like stream of consciousness but from multiple viewpoints. If it was suppose to be philosophical, I wanted something more profound. I was bored with characters too.
I actually prefer the Best Of lists. You're one of the only people whose negative videos I watch because I find the overt negativity of other Worst lists often distressing? I'm a very sensitive soul and I really appreciate how you talk about things you dislike.
Well, humanity is always supposed to move north, compass or north star, it's the navigation centre of moving towards, And...what better way to guarantee a conflict you can't escape from if it coming from North itself, kinda makes you believe that your north star is going to be fought for and there lies the drama of it all!! An un-escapable translocation conflict, especially between major communities that are supposed to migrate to safety...I'd call it the-north-star-crisis trope!!!
@@ghanshyamsingh3653 interesting idea and for sure applies to wester cultures, and I know China also has a history with conflict to the north. Its just something very pervasive and starting to feel a tad lazy for me 😅
Your channel's been a lovely recommendation from the YT algorithm, the way you talk about books with such depth + honesty (and even kindness where they deserve it, even if you didn't like them!) is something I was sorely missing from the booktube community in recent months. Great work, looking forward to your best of 2024 list!
falling into the trap of putting the audio on 3x speed and immersion reading to finish quickly IS SO REAL
🥀 I somewhat agree with you about Rose/House but the vibes worked for me so I enjoyed my time with it. Could not tell you what it was doing though. Only vibes.
7 DNFs, I am so proud of you
@@JessOwens I am also proud!
🌹 So maybe this is a negative subject video, but my takeaway is definitely that I need to check out the Womb City author’s short fiction!!
the sequel to Radiance continues their romance and it has higher stakes. some people feel like it is too stressful after how they fell in love with the couple in Radiance but I enjoyed it!
I also DNF'd the Familiar - I just didn't care after a while.
You know, I was totally here for the craziness in Long Live Evil but I can totally see why you bounced off it lol. And ugh I wish I had DNFed The Terraformers, that was honestly painful for me by the end ouch. Hope I can follow in your footsteps and embrace the DNF more next year!! Some of my biggest disappointments were A Dark and Drowning Tide by Alison Saft, The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, Lucy Undying by Kiersten White and The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake. Not bad books, just not what I was hoping for...
Im trying to get into sci-fi and would love to hear your favorites.
Not sure which direction you want to go in sci-fi, but "Kindred" by Octavia E. Butler is fantastic. I like almost anything by Becky Chambers too.
@heatherm561 I just read my first Becky Chambers and I queued Octavia! 👍👍👍
Angst, yearning, and pining are the ultimate!!
🌹 My most disappointing reads of the year are probably:
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
Those Above - Daniel Polansky
Trials of Empire - Richard Swan
Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins
My Brother's Keeper - Tim Powers
Leviathan Wakes - James S A. Corey
This was amazing as usual 🌹
I think the biggest disappointment for me was ‘Empire of Silence’. BookTube raves about the series, but I just couldn’t stand Handrian, and the writing was just meh. And then we got to the graphic torture scene, and I’m out. I tried, I really tried, but I just don’t want to spend any time on that sort of thing when there is so much of it happening IRL that using it as a form of escapism just sits very wrong.
Oh, and Orbital was a huge snore. I agree, the first 50 pages were good, and then I got bored.
I am with you on the opinion that angsty romance is the best romance, but I also think Radiance is a really competent romance. It also has some good fantasy as it goes on!
Lmao I am highly entertained that just a sweet romance does NOTHING for you. you're like "no angst?! no thanks" 🤣🤣
I live a sweet romance better than any books. I want DRAMA to relive my horrid teen days in the safety of fiction 😂
@ 💀🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh!! Radiance and the second book, Eidolon, have loads of angst. Eidolon in particular is heartbreaking. Like I almost never cry with a book, but it definitely got me in the feels.
I love anything in the Paladin world of T Kingfisher. I was going to say that none of her books have been disappointments for me, but actually Bryony and Roses I thought was maybe not more than 3.5 stars. Also not a fan of Illuminations.
Orbital I did not dislike, but I don't get why it's classified as a novel. It's more like a 200-page prose poem. No plot and not really any character development. But the prose is pretty.
so proud of you for all the DNFing friend!! you know i love a good DNF hahaha (even if one of your DNFs is a book i really enjoyed so i'm just sad you didn't have a good time with it) 🌹
@@tammietriestoread which one was it?? Water outlaws??
@LiteratureScienceAlliance yess haha
My worst reads of the year are, in order (from worst to least worst):
1. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jennie Han (this has some seriously problematic content, imo, and since it's for teens it made me doubly angry)
2. The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (very fun premise, but I disliked everything about the execution)
3. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (as a character driven reader, this is a huge nope)
4. How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen (having introduction by Marissa Meyer tricked me into reading this).
Three out of these four were for the r/fantasy bingo board 😅 This is what happens when I go out of my comfort zone 😂
Rose/House most disappointing for sure. I _loved_ Teixcalaan, but this was just... what? The Vela was also a pretty big disappointment, I love a lot of what they did, but I really didn't enjoy the reading experience itself, so I'm quite torn on it.
I'd rather leave a 🌹 for Rook & Rose bcs I'm reading The Mask rn and absolutely loving it. (Also Bryony and Roses, read that too this year.)
My worst for the year had to be Butcher & Blackbird. I thought it would be a fun departure from my usual fare, but I was ever so wrong LOL
@@tehluhlah oof sorry to hear that for you!
Worst books of the year for me were Private Rites by Julia Armfield and Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint. Most disappointing was Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. 🌹
No DNFs this year, but my most disappointing read was Bad Brains. I really thought it would be an AWESOME horror book, and what I found just really didn't work for me, for some reason. I didn't hate it, and I still found some things enjoyable, but it was nowhere near what I expected it to be
What is the short story collections by Tlotlo Tsamaase ? Is it Africa Risen ?
Most disappointing read this year was probably Bloom by Delilah S Dawson. I knew the twist going in and it was the reason I picked it up. I just found the execution lacking.
It was hard for me to get through Orbital. It read like stream of consciousness but from multiple viewpoints. If it was suppose to be philosophical, I wanted something more profound. I was bored with characters too.
@@lissavanhouten6628 yea it was dreadfully fine to boring
I also didn’t like the way the author blended genres in womb city. Definitely a disappointment 🌹
Hmm I think Murder Road by Simone St James is my most disappointing sadly! 🌹
@@KristinKravesBooks sorry to hear that!
I actually prefer the Best Of lists. You're one of the only people whose negative videos I watch because I find the overt negativity of other Worst lists often distressing? I'm a very sensitive soul and I really appreciate how you talk about things you dislike.
@@wallyjames thank you for the kind words 💜
I'm opposite I love those lol
My most disappointing reads of the year were 1. Before the coffee goes cold 2. The poppy war
I also DNFd Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Cool concept, poor execution.
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Well, humanity is always supposed to move north, compass or north star, it's the navigation centre of moving towards, And...what better way to guarantee a conflict you can't escape from if it coming from North itself, kinda makes you believe that your north star is going to be fought for and there lies the drama of it all!! An un-escapable translocation conflict, especially between major communities that are supposed to migrate to safety...I'd call it the-north-star-crisis trope!!!
@@ghanshyamsingh3653 interesting idea and for sure applies to wester cultures, and I know China also has a history with conflict to the north. Its just something very pervasive and starting to feel a tad lazy for me 😅
@@LiteratureScienceAlliance Lolz True indeed!
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